Unfortunately for the Lakers, their perimeter shooting went cold, which led to a 53-42 loss to drop them to 7-8 and 3-3 in the Mid-State Conference.

"In the first half, we did a good job getting the ball inside and kicking it back out," said DL head coach Robb Flint. "But in the second, we didn't put any pressure on their zone defense and should have taken better shots. Instead of getting the ball inside, we passed it around the perimeter and didn't hit our shots."

DL was 1-10 in three pointers in the first half, while going 4-8 from the free throw line.

Pequot Lakes held the size advantage, but the Lakers did a solid job holding their own inside the paint.

Kurtis Moody finished with 18 points from the lane to pace the Patriots.

"We also had 19 turnovers, which we want to limit to under 13," Flint said. "We had some early lazy passes in the first half which led to eight turnovers."

The Lakers went into a slump midway through the second half -- after trailing at halftime 29-21 -- by being stuck on 33 points for a seven to eight-minute stretch.

"They were able to separate from us then," Flint said of the drought.

The Patriots held all of DL's scorers to under 10 points, with each of guard Tyler Fode and post Josh Stalberger leading the way with nine points.

Brian Labat led DL in rebounds with nine, while Stalberger had eight boards.

DL will have a big Section 8-3A clash in St. Cloud Apollo (8-8) Monday.

"It's a huge game and a win there would tighten up the race for a No. 4 seed (which would earn DL a home playoff game)," Flint said. "St. Cloud has been as inconsistent as us, but they are big and will be the biggest team we see this season."

The road doesn't get any easier, as the Lakers will travel to Class 2A's No. 4 ranked Crosby-Ironton (14-1) Friday for another Mid-State clash, starting at 7:30 p.m.